Wish I May
by Green1
Summary: Rachel/ Al, a touch of Minias/ Rachel Minias pops up from hiding and bad things happen.


Wish I May

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or general plot. This oneshot is more Ral than Minias/ Rachel. I had planned to make this sort of a series of one shots (like "dance", "wild fire", and "love" are all linked together, generally speaking.) I'm not certain if I will, though. We'll see. General warnings for OOC and all that.

I woke up to a woozy world of pain. I groaned, shifting under the thick quilt, and the soft murmuring stopped. There was a strange pain in my stomach, much like the cramps I'd gotten when I was younger but more intense. I felt the beginning of a sweat break out on my skin and shifted again, trying to find a position to relief the growing discomfort. I blinked my eyes open when I heard the shifting of cloth.

Al looked down at me with a look of controlled anger in his dark red eyes. "Hurts, huh?" he said, and sat on the side of the bed. The motion drew another moan of pain from me, the shifting of the bed too much for my hurting body.

"That was stupid, huh?" I said wincing. I'd get no sympathy from this demon and probably wouldn't get any kind of pain amulet either. I grimaced, pulling the quilt up to hid it. A wave of pain rose, rolling in my belly and I bit back the next moan of pain.

"It was incredibly stupid."

I looked around until I found Minias standing over me, arms crossed across his chest. "It was incredibly stupid," Minias repeated, as if he doubted my ability to hear him. "What were you thinking?"

I looked away from his irate expression and felt the bed move as Al stood. There was some kind of silent communication between the two. It had been obvious that Al hated the other demon but Minias seemed to refuse to die. I could tell the fact that he was in the bedroom pissed Al off. It made me wonder if Minias was a "higher" up in the whole scheme of things, because I was certain Minias didn't care whether I was hurt or not.

I buried my nose in the soft quilt, remembering a bit fuzzily. Minias had popped up, alive and well, and he'd sought us out in the Demon Mall over some kind of business arrangement they'd had. I hadn't heard what it was about. Al refused to teach me any listening spells.

Someone must've gone to Newt and told her Minias had been seen. She'd arrived in the flourish and... My brows knitted as I tried to remember. A wave of nausea rolled up from my belly and I breathed through the sensation, swallowing the spit that collected in my watering mouth.

She'd done a curse of some sort, a killing curse, but she'd aimed it at me, a mocking smile curving her thin lips. Fire emulated over me where the curse touched and I was screaming, screaming, my head thrown back. Minias reached me first and he took the curse. And.. and...

"I couldn't watch you die," I told Minias. I'd taken it back but in a different way. I'd ingested the curse. I'd eaten it. His face wore a strange expression that I didn't like so I added, "I've never seen anyone die and I don't want to. Don't think too much of it."

Al tugged at the lace at his throat as he glared at the other demon. "They were staying until you woke up, to make sure you hadn't burned your brain out," he explained. His face dared Minias to deny it.

I pulled my legs up to my chest as another wave of pain hit me. This one was more insistent and I struggled to breath through the pain.

'They?' I wondered and found Dali sitting in the far corner, legs crossed. It was strange seeing him outside of the courts. He looked at home in the over-plush blue chair. He stood and straightened his shirt.

"And you're going to stay in bed," Al said, turning his dark gaze to me, "and think about how stupid you are."

Another wave of pain rolled over me and I couldn't bit back the moan. I turned onto myself, away from Al. If that was my punishment, I'd take it. It had been stupid. Maybe I could curl up into a ball and disappear into the feather mattress. "My stomach hurts," I said, fighting not to openly weep at the next wave of pain. They were coming fast now, more insistent. I covered my hand, the pain making me want to shrivel up and throw up everything I'd eaten in the past month.

"Well, I'm not going to give you any ..." His voice trailed off at my surprised look.

"What the hell," I pushed down under the covers, fumbling down until I felt the edge of my nightgown (only now realizing that I wasn't wearing the green silk dress.) Warm, wet liquid met my questing fingers and I pushed up, struggling to find my way out of the blankets. When I could see again, I gasped. My hand was stained a sinful dark with fresh blood.

I gave a strangled moan as another wave of pain hit me. That seemed to break the men out of their stunned silence. "What is happening to me?" I cried, struggling to flee the blanket, flee the wetness that whispered volumes of terrible things into my ear. Al helped free me from the tangled blankets. "What's happening?" I asked again, looking up into his pale face.

Another cramp hit me and a groaned, twisting away from him, trying to ball up again. Dali came forward then and leaned over the bed, grabbing my shoulders to straighten me. "Hold her down," he said and his slightly accented voice flowed over me. "Let me see what is happening."

Having a strange man stare down at my bloody crotch while waves of agony rolled over me wasn't what I considered a good time. I fought him when another pain hit me. I lashed out my nails, taking a swipe at his face and tried to pull away. Minias came forward to help Al hold me down. "I hurt," I wailed, the pain making me stupid.

Al's face pale and drawn as he stared down at the mess. The men looked at each other and nodded, before Al let me go and disappeared from my sight.

"What's happening?" The blood seemed to gush from between my legs.

"Sh," Al hushed, throwing a stake of towels onto the bed. Dali took one and rolled it up. "It'll be over soon," he said, running his hand over my forehead. He leaned down, giving me a heady hint of his cologne. I couldn't enjoy it, however, as another wave hit me and I cried out.

"Get me some water," I heard Dali murmur. "It's coming fast now." To Al he said, "give her something to make her woozy. She doesn't need to be all together conscious. The strain of that curse must've been too much for her body. You should've told me she was pregnant." The demon straightened, looking angry.

Al shook his head, a torrent of emotions tumbling over his face. "I, I didn't know," he said, after a long pause.

The demon huffed as Minias came back with a pail of steaming water. He slapped Al's attempts to shove a rolled up blanket between my legs. "Don't plug her up. You'll send her into shock. Just keep it there to catch the blood. It's passed the point of saving it."

"Baby?" I gasped, more from the pain than the idea of me being pregnant. "But that isn't possible..."

Al leaned forward and pressed a kiss on my damp forehead. I felt him murmur against my skin and a wave of ecstasy struck me. The pain dulled to a background annoyance and my body sagged against the bed. I felt myself almost pass out from the sheer pleasure that the absence of pain brought in me. I think it was only Al's whispered commands that kept me awake.

They worked around me in a hushed hurry with Dali murmuring orders now and again. I slipped in and out, waking just enough to do whatever they ordered. I don't quite remember when I fell asleep. I think it was when Al lifted me to bath the blood off me.

I woke slowly, fighting every step of the way to stay asleep. I braced myself for pain and found none. I let out my held breath. That was good, I told myself, but then wondered why I would be in pain. I raked my mind for an answer and remembered meeting Minias in the mall earlier that day. I'd saved Minias.

A nagging sense of emptiness made me think that wasn't the true reason. I remembering passing out and... that was all. Al must've put me to bed afterward. Several tears made wet tracks on my face. I brushed them away. I wanted to cry but why?

I frowned and sat up. The quilt pooled around me and I stared blankly at it until someone cleared his throat. My head shot up and 'Al' was on the tip of my tongue but it wasn't Al. It was Minis who sat clear across the room in my plush reading chair.

"Minias," I started, stopped.

He stood and crossed the room towards me. God, he was tall. Why do I always forget that? I focused on that instead of my need to cry.

"How are you feeling?"

I wet my bottom lip. "Fine," I said. "I feel... great." No lie. My body felt wonderful.

He reached out and touched my forehead, then his own. "No fever," said he. His hand dropped to his side and he half turned away from me. The soft light caught his handsome profile, the strong arch of his nose. He looked regal in the half-light, some fantasy Prince set on rescuing Princesses.

I meant to ask him where Al was but instead I said, "I feel like I've forgotten something." I stared up at him. "Something important." I didn't know why I thought Minias would tell me anything truthful, but I did. Maybe I just hadn't known him long enough.

"I owe you a favor, you idiot," he said, smile bitter. He turned back to me, body stiff as he tugged the sleeve of his yellow robe down. I thought I saw something akin to pity in his eyes. Pity? Because he says he owes me?

"I'll go get Al and tell him you're awake. He had immediate... business that he couldn't put off." Dark red eyes dropped to the ground and he hesitated for a moment. I could tell he wished to say more but in the end he shook his head.

"Okay," I said and watched him as he faded away. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms about them as I waited and wondered why I wanted to cry so damn much. My whole world has shifted and I knew I would never be the same again, and I had no idea how it happened.

The End. 


End file.
